The morning opened to glassy conditions and the first men's Quarterfinal featuring Filipe Toledo (BRA) and Joel Parkinson (AUS). Toledo, the 20-year-old Brazilian phenom, has won legions of new fans with his high-flying acrobatics. No. 4 on elite Tour rankings at the event's start, Toledo is already part of the Title race. At No. 18 on the rankings, Parko needed a win, badly. But undeterred by Parkinson's veteran status, Toledo surfed circles around him in the punchy waves, taking the win and moving on to the Semis.

Young's Interference, Explained

1:37

An interference was called in QF4. Get the story behind the decision.

The rest of the Quarters saw usual suspects winning their heats, setting up some heavy Semifinal matchups with just one big hiccup -- an interference call on Nat Young (USA) against Gabriel Medina (BRA) at the start of Quarterfinal 4. The call cut one of Young's scores in half, compromising his ability to catch up. (See the video for full explanation).

In the Semis, Toledo was less authoritative against countrymen Adriano de Souza (BRA), who surfed away with the win. Similarly, Gabriel Medina (BRA) went down to Rip Curl teammate, friend and mentor Fanning who earned two nine-point-range scores during the bout.

The men's Final saw De Souza and Fanning face off in increasingly bumpy conditions that now matched the tension in the air. The stakes were high: For De Souza, it was about keeping his lead going into the European leg. For Fanning, it was about overtaking the lead, and possibly having another shot at glory. From the start, though, it was Fanning who had the rhythm and ease. At the halfway mark, he had De Souza comboed. De Souza battled back with a 9.07, but still needed an excellent-range score win.

Swatch Pro: Moore vs. Buitendag

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Watch Carissa Moore and Bianca Buitendag go wave for wave for the ultimate prize in the Final heat cutdown.

Among the CT women, the field saw a careful culling of some of the lower-ranked women as momentum proved to win the day. Bianca Buitendag (ZAF), who has been steadily improving with each event, defeated Lakey Peterson (USA)
in the opening Semifinal of the Swatch Women's Pro with two mid-range scores. Peterson has also been in solid form, seeming to find her feet and rising to No. 5 on the rankings.

"I can't blame anyone but myself," said Peterson. "I made a lot of mistakes at the start of the event I think. I got one good wave and was feeling confident but then it went really quiet. I'm really disappointed in myself and the situation but I'm trying to look at the positive."

The Final saw Buitendag take on Moore, one of the Tour's toughest opponents. The Hawaiian has two Titles to her name and it only took a few waves to remember why: She made the most of every wave and, despite Bianca's skill, read the waves better and made it all look seamless.

For both the men and the women, Europe is calling next: Watch the Top 17 face off at the Cascais Women's Pro live here daily starting Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 8 a.m. local time. The men will surf next at the Quiksilver Pro France starting October 6.

SPECIALTY EVENT: Between Finals was a women's Heritage Series heat between four-time World Champion Lisa Andersen (USA) and 2004 Champ Sofia Mulanovich (PER). Both incredible competitors, they noted afterward that as the wind was coming up, the waves were tougher to read, making for a tricky heat. Still, it was Andersen who triumphed: Like some of the best current CT surfers, not only was her wave selection stellar, but she milked each one for all it was worth to dominate the faceoff and take the win. Check out the event site for results and a video recap.